Note the Social Media Insights for 2019

A report by the GlobalWebIndex Social Media Flagship highlights the most significant insights into the world of social media. The report includes the social media trends along with the most popular platforms, time spent on the different mediums, and how the consumers engage with brands, amongst several other key points.

A saturated market

The report shows that 98% of internet users are also using social media regularly. The adoption rate of the same is very high even amongst the age group between 55 and 64 (94%).

It is also observed that an average user spends 2 hours and 22 minutes per day on social networks and messaging platform. However, some markets are now showing a slight decrease in these figures.

Not for the sole purpose of social

Today, social media platforms have evolved into multi-media platforms and digital media users are now using it for more reasons than for the sole purpose of communication. In fact, the report shows that the age group between 16 and 24 prefer using social media to fill up their spare time and find content that is entertaining or funny.

Social media for product research

Social media users are now also using the platforms for product and brand research. As per the report by GlobalWebIndex Social Media Flagship, 22% of digital consumers have liked or followed a brand on a social network in the past month. Additionally, the report shows that at least four in ten users log in to social networks to research new product or service – making social media the second-most important channel for marketing. In fact, for the demographic group between 16 and 24-year-olds, social media has substituted for search engine since 2017.

A tight race between the messaging services

Close competition is also observed between the top messaging platforms with Facebook Messenger leading with 5-point for membership and WhatsApp leading with the same numbers but for the visitor rates. Snapchat comes on the third most visited messaging service. However, the service does not see many high figures in North America, especially amongst the Generation Z.

Multi-networking lessens pace

Previous reports highlight that internet users usually keep 8.5 social media accounts for different purposes. However, since the past year, this trend has slowed down and now we see less number of accounts held per internet users, regardless of the age group.

Live video – an essential asset

28% users of the four leading social media platforms, outside of China, take part in live streams each month. It was also seen that Facebook, with the largest user base of all social media platforms, has the highest engagement rates when it comes to live videos.

Facebook and YouTube lead the bandwagon

Facebook dominates the social media industry when it comes to membership. However, YouTube leads the race with a high number of weekly visitors, despite having fewer registered members. YouTube is the only social media service to have a significant number of visitors that are either not logged into their accounts or not even members in the first place.